The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1887-12-25

suing father. To escape now with his victim is
impossible Changing his direction he hastens
to the bank of the river. and into the stream.
with a savage yell, he plunges the helpless Ma
bel,
The rushing torrent bears her TO its surface,
and carries her swiftly downward upon its
bosom. The boughs of the weeping willow lap
the water as it eddies past them embracing the
fainting maiden and whirling her round and
round IN the tragic waltz OF eternity. With
one hand she grasps the droopiug branches
whose leaves ready wet with weeping, tears
for the innocent victim of the relentless heart
less Ocontee, and the tide that dances on and
on forever. nor loses one beat in it's measure,
leaves her swinging up and down t laves her
with its purple volume Sprineing into the
blow of his tomahawk, severed the clinging
hand from the wrist and Mabel Bailey sank to
rise no more. beneath the murmuring waves OF
the Sioux
1t is midnight and the stars, unobscured by
tlnge or vapor. bedeck the armament and clothe
the earth with gittering diamonds Blue Eagle
sits sullenlv in front of his lodge upon the banks
or the Wildcat and as he out upon the
Pc RECT serenity of nature there appears before
III I'm an object that chils the very marrow in his
bones, and sinks his heart into utter inactivitv.
Planting itself Immediately in front of him,
ana fastening Its elltsering eyes upon his coun-
tenance the object settled forward until its hot
breath seemed to blister the Indians cheek.
Then opening its great frog-like mouth it ut
tered such a rasping, unearthly combination of
all the owls, and bats, and night hawks were
frightened into Mysteries. and the Tapping of
their wings az they rushed madly through the
trees added TO the CONSERVATION of the Ocontes
until he was thousand times dead than
alive Curses upon the cowardly and degen-
crate race of Oconteei7 and as she screamed
these words into his almost lifeless ears she
selzed the indian and dragging him to the brink
OF the stream, pointed to the reflection of the
heavenly oros upon the water, and said in
voice that awoke the echoes for miles and miles
around: Behold the brillance of yonder star!
Not un til its light shall be obscured by fire
gushing forth from the bowels of the very earth
whereon yonder cabin stands. shall the base and
cowardly descendant of Oeontee find rest"
"
And the seasons waxed into years, and the
years marked tho periods of time such as dec
AIDES and scores, but the spirit of Ocontee found
no rest from it's wandering. When the hand of
the white man had removed the tall trees, meath
the dark foliage of which his ghost had glided
Tor years, the tasseling gave him unneces-
sary refuge. Silently his invisible form kept the
vlglls or the nights upon the banks of the Wild
cat; skulking in the bushes, gliding through the
corn -helds, lowering around the bridge piers,
making shadows in the moonlight for no eyes |
but his own while the day winds bore him far |
above the tops of the trees. and showed him the |
sad. weeping willows watching over the peaceful |
waters of the Sioux. where he last saw the pale |
sweet face of Mabel.
Oftentimes he fain would have ridden, like |
bubble, upon the tide, but down, deep beneath |
It's waves were tie stars. and they gittered like |
the eyes of the wizard. and themselves |
brow OF maiden. Then there would come up |
put OF the water small, white hand, dismem-
oered and bleeding and 1t would clutch at the
throat of the phantom. and fill him wi tn ungovern-
able terror; and reudng the air with his shrieks,
be would sail away to the tower of the court
house, from whence he would look down upon
the quiet streets, and wonder if the old ME hit
Waterman and his dog had ever drowned fair
Toung maiden. and, If not. why they, too,
we're doomed to eternal nightly vigil
Towering high mp towards the heavens with
base resting Immediately upon the spot where
'nce the lodge of the proud Ocontee stood a
peculiar frame-wo stands
It is the handiwork of the white man. and
he spirit OF Ocontee marvels at its purposes. |
His nights and his days are unchanged; he still
.lides over the waters of the Wildcat in the star
light, and rides the winds far across the West
'rn praries in the day.
This night marks the end of the fftieth year
In ice the last visit of the wizard. The spirit of
he Oconree. blown back from the distant land Of
ne Sioux. is settling down again for its eighteen
lundredth vigil over the desecrated graves Of
rs people. The city of the white man has re-
laced the little mounds that mark ed their silent
ONES, but the shade of Ocontee floats above
he housetops. penetrates the cellars. and skins
long the brink of the Wildcat, seeing all and
cen by none
Hark! the air is full of peculiar sounds. as Of
he rushing of the rapid Sioux, the Tapping of
thousands of wings, and the screeching and
isalng. and spluttering and piping of an hun
red wizards
nave the Owls, aud the bats, and the night
awks. and the wizards returned with their |
multiplied generations to wipe up the earth
18th the spook of old Blue Eaglel
bright blaze shoots forth from the bowels
the earth-from the very spot whereon the
indians lodge once stood-and higher and
lgher 1t leaps as If to kiss the sky! Its light
asts shadow upon the moon, and the stars are |
o longer reflected from the stream. The sky
ooscured by its brilliance, and the vacuum
ON Its heat creates a vortex into which the
stonlshed ghost of the Indian is rushed with
le winds. And the spirit of the Last Of
le Ocon tees" was at rest.